Casing for mats.



PATENTED JAN. 13, 1903.

B. L. PERRY. CASING FOR MATS. APPLIGATIOiT-I'ILED AUG. 27, 1902.

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Nrrn STATES ATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD L. PERRY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY.

CASENG FOR MATS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 718,517, dated January13, 1903.

Application filed August 2'7, 1902.

Toall whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD L. PERRY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Casings for Mats;and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings,making a part of this specification, and to the letters of referencemarked thereon.

The present invention has relation to casings for holding mats ofwhatever construction and uses to which the mats may be applied; and theobject thereof is to provide a casing molded wholly outof soft rubber,so that the same will be flexible and resist any rough usage to which itmay be subjected without breaking or cracking and will not scratch orotherwise mar the polished surface of a table or other article offurniture upon which it rests when used as a means for sup-' portingheated articles or vessels containing liquids.

A further purpose of the invention istoprovide the casing with anelastic rim to hold the mat therein, a perforated bottom to theeasing,and projections upon the under side thereof to raise the casingfrom contact with its support and allow the air to freely circulateunder the casing and come in contact with the mat to dry out theaccumulated moisture therein.

The invention consists in a casing for mats of soft rubber and of theconstruction substantially as shown in the drawings and hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

Figure l of the drawings is a plan view of the upper side of a casingfor mats constructed in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2, a similarview of the under side thereof; Fig. 3, alongitudinal central section online 3 3 of Fig. 2.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents the mat, of any suitable formor shape and preferably of an absorbent material,

such as asbestos or prepared paper, said mat' being held in a casing B,molded wholly of soft rubber in a single piece and of a shape tocorrespond with that of the mat.

The soft-rubber casing B comprises a base or bottom a, which is moldedwith an up- Serial No. 121,186. (No model.)

wardly-extending rim 1), and being of rubber is elastic, its elasticityenabling the mat to be inserted in the casing by the expansion of therim and when thus inserted is held in place by the contraction of therim, but capable of being readilyremoved when desired. To further assistin holding the mat in place, the rim is molded with aninwardly-extending flange '0, which slightly overlaps the edge of themat, as shown in Figure 3 of the drawings.

The bottom a of the soft-rubber casing .13 is molded with projections clto elevate the bottom from contact with the surface of the table orother support upon which the casing rests. The bottom being thus raisedfrom contact with its support leaves a space between it and the surfaceof the table or other piece of furniture, thus enabling the air tofreely circulate under the casing, and as the bottom thereof is providedwith perforations e the air will come in direct contact with the mat todry out any moisture therein when used to support liquid-holdin gvessels subject to overflow.

The free circulation of the air under the casing which comes in contactwith the mat not only dries out the moisture in the mat and thataccumulating upon the table, but prevents the polished surface thereoffrom turning White or otherwise injured by the heat coming in contacttherewith.

The advantages of a casing for holding mats molded of soft rubber willbe at once apparent from the fact that the polished surface of the tableor other piece of furniture will not be scratched or otherwise marred bysliding or moving the casing thereon, which is of material importance inthe mats used in'restaurants for supporting beer glasses or mugs orother like vessels for containing liquids.

The elasticity of the rim of the casing enables the mat to be' readilyinserted therein and securely held in place by the expansion andcontraction of the rim, respectively, and also conveniently removed whendesired.

The bottom of the casing having projections upon its under side togetherwith the perforations therein enables the air to have free circulationunder the bottom and come in direct contact with the mat for the purposehereinbefore described.

The casing being of soft rubber there is no danger of its breaking orbecoming injured by rough handling, and consequently it is comparativelyindestructible, and the mat being readily removable from the casing anew one may be substituted at any time or the old one removed to becleaned and replaced.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A molded soft-rubbercasing for mats, comprising a perforated bottomwith projections upon its under side to elevate the same above itssupport and allow the air to circulate under the bottom and come incontact with the mat to dry out the moisture therein,

of two witnesses.

EDWARD L. PERRY. Witnesses:

GEO. M. COPENHAVER, GEORGE M. BOND.

